A send off service for the retiring resident priest of Christian Divine Church (CDC) branch in Prestea, Pastor Emmanuel Anokye turned ugly last Sunday when the flock on the side of the priest and a delegation dispatched by the Head of the Church in Tarkwa, Apostle Amos Mensah to witness the service clashed and exchanged free blows.

This ugly spectacle attracted onlookers onto the scene of the incident.

The Chronicle on Saturday gathered from an eye witness who gave his name as Kojo that what attracted the free exchange of blows was a forceful retirement of the resident Priest on the day in question by Apostle Amos Mensah who is the Chairman of the Church.

According to the witness who is a congregant, the Council of Elders of the church had advised the Chairman to hold on with the forceful retirement of the resident Minister until further notice on the premise that there were equally other priests in the headquarters of the church in Tarkwa who had reach the retirement age and were still serving.

A council member who did not want to be named mentioned the names of three ministers: Kwabena Adjei, Pastor Arhin, Pastor France all stationed in the headquarters of the church in Tarkwa who had also reached their retirement ages but are still serving.

The Council member however described the forceful retirement of the resident Minister by the Chairman as clear sign of favouritism.

According to the Council member, the council advised and asked for extension of the retirement service for the resident Minister but the Chairman of the church rebuffed it.

As a result, the resident priest was forcefully scheduled to go on retirement on the day in question.

Interestingly, on the day in question, the resident Priest and wife were nowhere to be found. This reportedly attracted the wrath of the flock and delegation dispatched by the leadership.

This however resulted in a misunderstanding between the factional flock resulting in exchange of free blows and trading of unprintable words against each other.

According to the eyewitness, the church members on the side of the Apostle Amos Mensah not satisfied with the cancellation of the send off service stormed the church Mission House, and vented their spleen on the children of the resident priest and forcibly attempted to eject them from the Mission house.

That apart, the church members also pummeled the children of the resident priest resulting in three of the children sustaining various degrees of injuries. The senior son of the resident Priest, Emmanuel Anokye who confirmed the story told The Chronicle on Saturday that he developed abdominal pains as a result of the attack. He added that three of his siblings also sustained minor injuries.

Emmanuel Anokye, 32 who expressed shock at the attitude of the other flock said he reported the attack on their life to the Prestea Police where medical forms were given out to them to seek medication. The Police who confirmed the story said they are investigation the case.

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